North American Remoteness

North American Remoteness

8858 x 8268

‘You can see the bottleneck in the Canadian network near Thunder Bay, Ontario, where there’s only two east-west road links, the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian National Railway line a bit north of it. Other than those two, you need to go into the US or take a plane to get from one side of Canada to the other’

UK/Falklands comparison, showing their relative sizes and latitudes

UK/Falklands comparison, showing their relative sizes and latitudes

1240 x 1372

‘Makes sense the climates are so similar

On maps the Falklands are predominantly Polar Tundra (ET), with a little bit of Cold Desert, Cold Steppe, and Cold Summer Temperate (Cfc). While the UK especially on the same latitudes is Oceanic (Cfb). Only the coldest and most forlorn parts of the Scottish moors are as forelorn as the most pleasant parts of the Falklands’

The history of the world as a series of rivers, starting in 3984 BC and ending c.1830

The history of the world as a series of rivers, starting in 3984 BC and ending c.1830 (in French - produced in 1830)

6319 × 9309

‘I wanted to find fault with this but so far I can’t, extremely well done. I’d have perhaps given the Mongols more push over Europe and included India, but I suppose he had to work with the tools of the time … ou can kinda see India if you follow from the Mongols through Chagatai then Temur and his descendents (Mughal dynasty), ending with it saying this area became part of the British empire’

A 1963 prediction of Africa at the beginning of the 21st century

A 1963 prediction of Africa at the beginning of the 21st century

3574 × 3547

‘They were right about the Portuguese fighting like hell to keep their colonies at least … Yeah they kept them until the early 70s, a time when pretty much all former colonial nations had given independence or abandoned their colonies

It’s even funnier when you think about that as early as 1914 there was an agreement between Britain and Germany to split Mozambique between the two Nation’s colonies, which was then obviously interrupted by another minor historical event, you probably don’t know about it’

Territorial evolution of the Eastern Roman Empire [Byzantine Empire]

Territorial evolution of the Eastern Roman Empire [Byzantine Empire]

‘In a lot of ways, the Byzantine Empire is perhaps the most mysterious in world history, in its fragility.

The Empire went from being a medieval European superpower in 1050, to losing half of its territory (Anatolia) by 1096, the year of the First Crusade. After the Commenian Restoration, the empire again became the pre-eminent force in Christendom by around 1150, and then the Fourth Crusade knocked it out in Constantinople itself in 1204, with apparently not too much trouble.

These huge swings in imperial power were often accompanied by internal strife and treachery. All the major disasters for the Empire - Manzikert, the Turkic conquest of Anatolia, and the 1204 capture of Constantinople - were all made possible due to Byzantine civil wars, emperors and pretenders selling out the empire, and outright betrayals. Thus the impossible happened, and the Greek nation that has dominated Anatolia for 1500 years was completely displaced by the Turks.

I love the Byzantine Empire, but it’s hard to have sympathy for the way that they fell. Especially considering that the Turks managed to create a world empire out of the exact same territory, all the while being a ruling minority trying to keep down a Christian majority (the Ottoman state being majority-Christian at least until their conquest of Syria and Egypt).

And it is a lesson for us as well; civilizations are only as strong as its people, not the geopolitical circumstances given to it’–Successful-Tension